Chapter 28

Sukuna kept himself isolated.

His mind was a whirlwind, a raging storm that refused to settle let alone end. He would think of his past with the Toorus, those who grew up along side him, only to see their deaths at his hands. Sukuna was tormented, going back and forth from seeing their smiling faces, only to devour them one by one!

"What hell is this… why is this happening?!" he kept himself to the woods, refusing to eat or drink anything until his mind settled.

But will it ever?

These thoughts, feelings, everything he buried, hid and discarded in his prime were bubbling up to the surface.

He HATED it.

He hated the idea that he had another life, he hated the idea that he had these feelings, emotions and attachments…

He hated that he lost it all because of his own desperation.

Still, Sukuna wondered why Chusi was still willing to be at his side, why was she happy to see him knowing what became of her and…

"GAH!" he roared in frustration.

These thoughts, these thoughts are nightmares.

"I want this to end… this HAS to end…" he muttered.

The lack of sleep finally caught up to him, but Sukuna swore, he saw something familiar just appeared a moment ago before he passed out…

#

There was warmth.

His ears picked up the crackling of a fire near by, and yet… the wood used smelt familiar to him. Slowly, his eyes opened as he peered about.

"A… cave?" he whispered.

But there were thing about this cave that he knew… they were recognizable, very familiar… in fact, the walls, he saw markings and carvings written in the old language of the region.

"Ryomen and Ryoto's domain…" he whispered the words.

Their old place where they hid as children. He forgot all about this small, dinky cave until now, and yet…

He felt emotional about it.

Sukuna dared to think a tear escaped from him as he reminisced about this little hide away, for it was the better memories he had.

"You're still a crybaby?"

He jumped at the voice, but, there he was! Sitting against the wall with a bottle of sake in hand, yet he was keeping a close eye on the pot cooking over the fire.

But, it couldn't be.

"You can't be here… the brat…"

"YUUJI… is allowing me to speak my peace for the next twenty four hours. Until that time is up… I'm not going anywhere." Ryoto said in a firm tone. "So, with that being said, how about you have a seat and we enough come cave stew!"

Cave stew… he hasn't had that in years!

In fact… he can't even remember what it tastes like.

"What? You forgot about cave stew!? How could you forget it! We made this all the time! You were always hungry. Remember? This was our run away food!"

"Why are you here? Are you back for your revenge? If so, I gladly accept it!" Sukuna decreed.

Ryoto paused oddly. "Have I been haunting you? I know mother is doing more than her fair share of that."

"How did…"

"Sit, eat up it's going to get all lumpy"

Sukuna had yet to move from where he stood. This… this is a curse isn't it? A domain to let him see what he wanted to see? No… perhaps a punishment?

Yet he watched carefully as 'Ryoto' poured himself a bowl of stew. It was full of the things they found in the woods that were edible and safe to eat. The spoon dipped into the bowl as the first bite was taken. Ryoto took a moment before swallowing it down. "Yeah, that's cave stew alright… tastes like dirt!"

Then, a bowl was offered to him.

He was cautious and took it, but tucked himself back and away from Ryoto.

"You didn't outgrow that either huh? You're like a wild animal when it came to food, so distrusting of us when offered… you remember how we got you to eat? We ignored you!" Ryoto laughed.

He said nothing and took the first mouthful.

It did taste like dirt… but… it was good. He remembered this flavor, for it was his childhood. "Mother Tooru didn't know we made this terrible stew to eat…"

"Oh, she knew, she ALWAYS knew. But she let us eat it since she also knew that you and I couldn't cook anything for ourselves! We made this after arguing with her and 'running away' remember?"

He shook his head. "Those… memories aren't as clear as the others…"

"Still learning the hard way huh?"

Sukuna paused. "The hard way?"

"Well, there are more than one ways to learn, but I am not telling you, or else your lesson never sticks as well."

He froze oddly enough… is that where HIS teaching method came from?

"Why are you doing this? Why are you even here speaking to me as if nothing happened?!" Sukuna demanded of him. "I know what I have done, I destroyed everything and the one clan that dared to call me family! Why are you not angry with me!"

Ryoto smiled. "We were never angry with you." He said as gently as he could. "Ryomen, we knew the risk in taking you in, had we interfered or not, the path you fell upon would have occurred either way but perhaps sooner, or later. What we did, was try to see if perhaps we could give you another purpose. A life worth living."

"Even your family saw me as a walking disaster…"

"No," Ryoto said firmly. "We knew there would be sorcerers out there who would do anything to live on the fringes of your power. You could have gone either way depending on who reached you first. Ryomen, when we first saw you, did we scream, run away or point out your differences?" he asked.

Sukuna shook his head no. "Because we saw you on the same path as ours. The Tooru family has always been on the outside looking in, our words were not listened to, but everyone wanted our power. We could have done what you did when madness fell upon you, but where would that led the family? Our descendance would be ashamed of us. Or would we have laid waste to everything? Either way, we chose our path. Even if we were not listened to, we would help those in need."

"Why me?" he asked. "Would it not have been easier for everyone had I just been killed then and there!" he demanded. "I don't understand why your family wanted to help me so much. I never asked for it!"

"You needed it." Ryoto said. "Did you wish we left you behind? Abandoned you to live on your own and try to make sense of the world in a blind rage? Or even death for that matter? You preferred we killed you then and there? Did you wish we never met, knew comfort or understood there were people in this world that never wanted to use you? It would certainly justify the way you acted when you went insane, wouldn't it?"

He froze.

He had no answer either. How could he? The Tooru family has done nothing but be there for him, to help him without asking anything in return. But time and time again, he questioned their motives, wondering why they bothered. Was this the reason? The true reason?

"What happened… after I ate you?"

Ryoto paused. "Funny you should ask that…" he said and smirked. "You see, we made that binding vow as kids right, well, we thought it was just a promise, but you got so much stronger it became a binding vow. Do you remember?"

The promise?

He then began to recall as children, he and Ryoto were by themselves, Sukuna was upset since the other children refused to play with him. 'Don't listen to them, they don't understand you.' Ryoto said.

'I wish it was different, why can't I be like you?'

'You know what, I wish you could be like me too. I wish we could be REAL brothers. Wouldn't that be something?'

'I would have liked that too, Mother Tooru would just be mother to me.'

'Okay let's make a promise here and now! We will find a way to become real brothers!'

When Sukuna shook his hand, a surge went through them. He accidently made a binding vow with him…

"You see now?" Ryoto asked of him. "The moment I died… the vow kicked in. I kept reincarnating, trying to find you, to bring you back and become your brother."

Sukuna… was at a loss to this. "You kept reincarnating… to be my brother?"

"Yeah, also, that little grit of goodness that they extracted from you, that was part of your soul that was kept safe in our binding vow, and what my family saved from you…"

"Yet, when I was purified…"

"Remember who your vessel was…"

He froze, Ryoto merely smiled to him once more before offering him some sake. "Are you going to sit down now?"